Success in 2011 FDI Moot Competition
King's College London has won the 4th Annual Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Moot Competition, which was held at Strand and Waterloo campuses on 4-6 November 2011.
On 6 November before a final tribunal composed of Sophie Nappert, Gavan Grifith QC and Giorgio Sacerdoti, King's College London prevailed over Georgetown University. The competition this year was of an exceptional high quality with a record number of 35 teams worldwide - ranging from Hong Kong and the United States to Argentina and India – taking part. The 2011 moot problem, prepared by a team under the supervision of Ms Nappert, involved an investor–state dispute arising out of an offshore oil spill, which had resulted in devastating environmental damage in the host state.
The King’s team also won the award for the Highest-Ranked Team (which goes to the team with the highest cumulative score in the combined oral and written phases of the competition) by a considerable margin, beating its nearest competition - University of Warsaw - by almost 100 points. In addition the team won the award for the Best Respondent Counter Memorial ahead of Pepperdine Law School.
The team members, Marlen Smbatyan (LLM), Tereza Garcia André (LLM), Kshama Loya (LLM), Christy Burzio (LLM), Viviane Lee (LLM) and Olabanji Oke (LLB) received the Baker & Mckenzie Prize and the Skadden Arps Trophy in a ceremony at the Strand Campus. Ms Loya was also the recipient of a Honourable Mention Advocate Award.
The team was coached by very talented and experienced individuals: Nima Mersadi Tabari (IALS PhD Candidate 2008-11 and FDI Moot oralist 2009), Metka Potocnik (KCL LLM 2009 and FDI Moot coach 2009), Emily Schäfer (KCL LLM 2010 and FDI Moot oralist 2010) and Katherine Lim (Georgetown University LLM 2012 and FDI Moot oralist 2009). The coaching team started interviewing applicants in February 2011 under the supervision of Dr Federico Ortino. The first team meeting took place in March 2011 and the team started to work on the problem in late summer.
Mr Tabari, who also coached the 2010 KCL FDI Moot team, stated: “It was a joy to work with such inspiring individuals. While I did my best to convey the little I know about investment law and advocacy to the team, I take pride to admit that the learning process between the coaches and the students was mutual. I commend them for their enthusiasm, persistence and work ethics and I am proud of each and every one of them.”
Ms Potocnik, who coached the KCL FDI teams for the third consecutive year, commented: “The drive and the desire of the students to learn while working in a very diverse environment was inspiring. While it was the books painting the summer faces on the team members and not the yellow sun, when it was needed the most, the team acted as one entity. Each individual on his/her own coupled with the harmony of this year’s team brought King’s to the winning steps of this competition. It was a privilege to be part of this unique, international and hard working team.”
Ms Schäfer, who had her first coaching experience, added: “Although I had to juggle the moot with a demanding job in Berlin, it was always worthwhile to put in extra hours for the benefit of the team. They were open to take suggestions on board and were always motivated and their enthusiasm motivated me as a coach. When one works with such impressive people, hard work and sleepless nights somehow become fun.”
The team responded well to the intensity of preparations and practices in the last 3 months and rose up to the challenge. Mr Smbatyan said: “The results speak for themselves. The harmony and the professionalism of members and coaches had directed the entire energy of the team towards one goal: Victory.” Mr Oke added “It is a tremendous honour and privilege to have been a part of such a talented team. To say that the spirit of this team was strong would be an understatement…we are FAMILY.”
The team was largely composed of first-timers who benefited from the wealth of experience shared by the coaching team. According to Ms Andre, those team members whom experienced mooting for the first time are extremely proud of their “100% success rate”. While the most experienced member of the team, Ms Burzio, believes this to be her “most enjoyable mooting experience” and the team to be “the best team ever”.
Ms Loya stated: “This victory restores faith in my belief that- it doesn’t matter where you come from or what you have done, as long as you are ready to embrace the world with the spectrum of colours and the diversity of people it abounds in, no barriers, personal or national, can stop you from excelling.” The King’s team was indeed an international team which by its phenomenal success “proved that a full recovery from the global financial crisis is possible through international cooperation!” according to Ms Lee.
King’s is proud of the achievements of the 2011 FDI Moot team and according to Dr Federico Ortino, the academic sponsor of the team: “This is without any doubt a remarkable achievement. Not only were the teams taking part in the moot generally very, very strong, but the level of progress of the King’s team from the interviews in February till the final round in November has simply been outstanding! While success at this level entails a combination of several elements, I can certainly testify to the uncompromising dedication and extraordinary talent of the entire King's FDI Moot team—mooters and coaches. I am extremely proud of them!”